Apparatus for transportation and utilization of liquefied gases



May\26,1925. 1,538,901'

J. D. MacMAHoN APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTATION AND UTILIZATION OF LIQUEFIEDGASES Filed Jam 6, 1925 Patented May 295i sraras ratti-l .l'ilrllESDOUG-LAS MACMAHON; 0F NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YURK, ASSGNR' TO THE MATHEESDNALKALI WORKS, 'QF NEW' YORK, N. Y., A C'RPORATON 0F VIRGINXA.

arraaarns non TRANSPORTATION ann urrnrzarron or LI-uunrrnn Grasas.

Application inea January e, i925; serial ne. aaa.

To @ZZ whom it may concern: atm'ospheric temperature is quite low, as inBe it known that'l, JAMES DOUGLAS Mad winter, it is extremely difficultto secure a MAI-ION, a citizen of the United States, re- Steady iow ofliquid from the containers of siding at Niagara Falls, in the county ofany rapidity, and the discharge of the con- 5 Niagara, State of NewYork, have invented tainer's is so slow a process that it is frecertainnew and useful improvements in quently necessary to remove thecontainers Apparatus for Transportation and lUtilizafroin the car andplace them within a heattion of Liquefied Gases; and I do hereby edbuilding. This entails a considerable declare the following to be ayfull, clear, and amount of 'handling of the containers, and exactdescription of the invention, such as the discharge of the contents is aslow and will enableotliers skilled in the art to which i laboriousprocess. l it appertains, to malte and use the saine. The presentinvention is intended to pro- This invention relates to the utilizationof vide apparatus by which the contents oft liquefied gases, such, forinstance, as liquid liquefied gas containers may be discharged chlorine,and has to do more particularly rapidly while the containers are inplace on with apparatus by which such gases may the car, and isusefulparticularly when the be readily transported in sealed containerscontainers are to be discharged at relatively under relatively highpressures, and rapidly low atmospheric temperatures. This invenwithdrawnfrom these containers lfor use. tion involves the provision of a car onwhich Gaseous products, such as chlorine, are a plurality of containersare mounted, tocommonly supplied tothe consumer in congetherfwithassociated apparatus by which tainers in which the liquefied gas isunder the necessary heat may be transferred to the relatively heavypressure. These containers liquid in order to maintainv the desired.

are transported in railroad cars of different vapor pressure within thecontainers. By types, and in. one form of car which has the use of thisapparatus itis possible to vbeen highly satisfactory, the containers aredischarge the containers separately and durmounted in cradles and thecar has mains ing the emptying of one container, one or to which thecontainer outlets may be conmore others may be suitably preheated sonected so that the contents vm'ay be disthat the process of withdrawalmay be car- 30 charged without removing the containers ried on withoutAinterruption.

from the car. n According to the present invention, a car For manycommercial purposes it is de- `is provided on which a series ofcontainers sirable to withdraw the gases from the conare mounted inindividual cradles. Extendtainers in liquid form and each container inglengthwise of the car, beneath these is, therefore, provided with anoutlet pipe cradles are guideeways or rails, in which the end of whichlies near the bottom of the may be placed a heating unit of appropriatecontainer. When the outlet is open the form, which may be moved alon thecar vapor pressure of the vaporized liquid in from end to end. rllheheating unit preferl the container forces the liquid out through ablyhas a suiiicient length so as to lie in. the outlet, and as the liquidlevel falls, furheat-exchange relationship with a. plurality thervaporization of the liquefied gas takesl of containers, and is suitablyconnected to a place. ln such vaporization, however, a source of aheating medium. The unit is considerable quant-ity of heat is abstractedalso provided. withmeans by which it may from the. liquid and itstemperature falls. be moved along the car. In addition to the lf therate of flow of the liquid is hlgll, it heating unit the car is providedwith an inwill be impossible for the liquid within the Sulating coveringwhich may be used to encontainer to absorb heat from the atmosphereclose a number of the containers, and as the iny sufficient quantitiesto compensate for containers are successively emptied the heatthat usedin the vaporization, and the vapor ing unit and covering are moved alongthe pressure in the container will, therefore', deseries of containersso that the liquid in each crease and the flow of liquid will rapidlyone in turn takes up heat radiated from the diminish. it ordinaryatmospheric temperunit.

atures the liquid within the container can The car ispreferably providedwith absorb the required quantity of heat so that mains to which theoutlets ont the containers r the fiow will be continuous, but when themay be connected, sothat the operation oit (lli emptying the containersis facilitated, and although it is preferable to discharge the contentsfrom each container in turn, it is possible, with this arrangement, toempty twoV or more simultaneously.

In the accompanying drawings I have illustrated one embodiment of theinvention in the form which I now consider preferable, although it willbe understood that various other forms of apparatus may be used for thepurpose, depending, to some extent, on the size of the containers andtheir arrangement on the car. In the present drawings the containers areof approximately one-ton size, and are mounted in cradles extendingtransversely of the car. In these drawings,

Fig. 1 is a transverse section through the car showing a container inelevation,

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the car,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one type of heat4 ing unit, and

Fig. 1 is a plan view of a detail of the car with the container removed.

Referring to the drawings, the car is illustrated somewhat.diagrammatically but is of the type shown infamia No. 1,458,588,

issued June 12, 1923 to Max Mauran, which has p-rovedvery satisfactory.This car is provided with an under-trame which consists of a central boxgirder 5 with suitable cross beams 6 distributed along the length of thecar. suitable intervals are cradles 7, each of which has seats 8, onwhich may rest a container 9. This container is a standard form and isof a size suitable to hold approximately one ton of liquid chlorineunder 8O pounds pressure. At either end of each cradle are clampingmembers 10, 10, having hooks 11, which enga-ge the chime of thecontainer.

, Extending lengthwise of the car along the endsof the cross beams arerunning boards 12,l with guard rails 13, and along one running board ismounted a main 14, which has intake valves 15, placed opposite eachcradle. In one end of the containers are valves 16 and 17 the uppervalve 16, being provided with an outlet pipe 18, which extends nearly tothe top of the container,

while the valve 17 has an outlet pipe 19 which is turned downwardly andextends nearly to the bottom of the container. When the contents of thecontainer are to be withdrawn in' gaseous form the( valve 16 isconnected by' a pipe 20 to the valve 15 ofthe main, and when thecontents are to be withdrawn in liquid form the lower valve 17 is thusconnected.

It will be-noted that the container 9 as shown in Fig. 1, resting in itscradle, lies at some distance above the plane of the car surface, andextending the length of the car and lying inthe depressed portion ofvtakesthe form of a pipe coil consisting Mounted on the under-frame at.

the cradle, are vrails 21, which provide a track on which the heatingunit. may be placed. This unit 22, as shown in Fig. 3, .ot headers andcross pipes and is provided at its ends with lugs Q3, to. which may beattached loops 24. This heating unit has a length equal to the distancebetween the centers of the first and third container, as

shown in Fig. 2, and is provided with connections 25, 25, at one end.Through one of these connectlons the heating medium A enters the unit'and through the other, when steam is employed, the exhaust steam andcondensed water leaves the unit. The inlet connection is provided with avalve (not. shown) so thaty the How of the medium may be regulated. l

When the car with the load of containers has been delivered at itsdestination and placed near the main through which the contents are tobe led to the point of consumption, the heating unit is placed under thecontainer from which the contents are first to be withdrawn, and thenconnected to the supply of heating medium. This container is thenconnected to the car main which has previously been connected to theconduit on the ground. A blanket 26 of suitable insulating materialisnow placed in position over the container, beneathA which the heaterlies, and the heating medium is now passed through the heater. Thecontents of the container may now be withdrawn at a comparatively highrate of How, until the container has been completely exhausted. Aspreviously pointed out, the heating unit extends beneath a plurality ofcontainers and the insulating blanket is also sufficiently large tocover several containers. During the time that one of the containers isAbeing discharged, the others are being preheated. When the firstcontainer is empty, the outlets of the others are successively openedand the heater and blanket are moved along the series. This procedure iscarried on until all of the containers are empty and the containers maybe emptied singly, or, if desired, two or more maybe simultaneouslyconnected to the main so as' to discharge the contents at the same time.V

Itwill be seen that' While the illustrated apparatus is comparativelysimple, it provides an efiicientmeans of emptying the containers rapidlyand at a minium expense.

The containers may remain on the car during discharge and, therefore,any handling.

' supplies to the liquid the of the contents of the containers While Ihave described the u'se ofthe ap# paratus 'in connection with thevdischarge in liquid form, it-will be clear that this same type ofapparat-us is also useful when within the containers is to be withdrawnin the gaseous form. For this purposel the upperoutlet from thecontainers, the intake ofwhich lies above the 'liquid level, will beconnected to the main and asl the gasv is Withdrawn the liquid withinthe container evaporates. The heating unit now amount of 4heat requiredfor the continuous vaporiza-tion of the liquefied gas, and the -processis car- 'Iied on until all the liquid has-vaporized and has beenwithdrawn.

I claim: l

1. The combination of a car having aseries of containers for liquefiedgas mounted thereonyeach containerhavingvan outlet, the intake of whichlies below the level of the liquid therein, a valve for controlling therate of How through the outlet, and a heating unit mounted on the carinheat exchange'- relationship to the containers and movable to differentpositions on the car.

2.The combination of a car having a series of cradles thereon, acontainer for liquefied gas seated in each cradle, an outlet in eachcontainer having an intake'below the level of the liquid therein, a mainextending along the car, connections between the outlets and the main, avalve in each' outlet for controlling the rate of How therethrough, anda heating unit mounted on the car and movable to dilferent positionstherealong, this unit being sutliciently large so that it may be placedin heat exchange relationship 4with a plurality of containers. A 8, Thecombination of a car having a series of -cradles disposed thereon,aconthe gas therein, a main extending along the' car,

connections between the outlets of the main, a valve in 'each outlet forcontrolling the rate of flow therethrough, guideways on the carextending along the series of containers, a heating unitjny theguideways and movable therealong, and connections for supplyin'g aheating medium to this unit.

4. he combination of a car having a series of cradles disposed thereon,a' container for liquefied gases' seated in each cradle, an outlet ineach containerhaving an intake below therein, a main extending along thecar, connections between the outlets and the main, a valve in eachoutlet for controlling the rate of lowtherethrough, a heating unitmounted on .the car beneath the containers and movable to differentpositions on the car, this unit having a size suliicient to underlie apluralityof such containers, and an insulating blanket for enclosing thecontainers under which the neating uilit lies.

5. The combination of a car having an under-frame, a plurality ofcradles Amounted on the frame` a container for liquefied gas seated ineach cradle in spaced relation to the under-frame, an outlet from eachcontainer having an intake lying below the level of the liquid therein,guideways mounted --on the cradles beneath the containers and extendingthroughout the length of the car, a heating unit in the guidewaysmovable therealong, a main extending along the series of containers,connections between the outlets and the main, and valves in theconnections for regulating the rate of flowl the level of the liquid:sasl

